Diversified Jobs To Remain In Lackawanna County

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SCRANTON -- About 200 jobs that were set to leave the area will now remain in Lackawanna County.

The company is Diversity Information Technologies which was acquired by EDM Group earlier this year.

Almost 20 years after the iconic Globe store shut its doors, its building on Wyoming Avenue has stayed busy with a budding business you may not know a lot about. Diversified Information Technologies helps other companies digitally store documents.

But when Diversified was bought by an international company last year Lackawanna County officials say it was a forgone conclusion that the 200 jobs here would leave the county.

“We asked for some time to be able to put a package together so we can sit down and discuss with them, and Thank God they were open to listen,” said Lackawanna County Commissioner Jim Wansacz.

At a county commissioners meeting, commissioners and officials from the Greater Scranton Chamber of Commerce announced that their idea worked. Diversified's new owner, EDM Group, has decided to keep the jobs here.

“New York City, Philadelphia, and access to those markets are really important to us, so it allows us to do that,” said EDM Americas vice president Leo Malsky.

With help from the county, EDM Americas will move to the former JCPenney call center on Montage Mountain in Moosic. The building's been empty for three years. EDM will keep a much smaller operation in downtown Scranton.

“Remember we don't get to make the decisions on this, it's industry themselves, it's the business themselves, so the best thing we can do is bring the best package to the table from an incentive standpoint, keep them in the region. Regionally, we're happy to keep these jobs here,” said Greater Scranton Chamber of Commerce president Bob Durkin.

Officials say EDM Americas will receive financial incentives to stay in Lackawanna County for at least 10 years but they had to agree to keep a handful of employees in the old Globe building.

Michaelene Coffee owns a business on Wyoming Avenue and says the deal could hurt her bottom line.

“I was surprised. I'm sorry to see them go. The traffic in downtown Scranton will be a lot less with those 200 people gone,” Coffee said.

We spoke to the vice president of Diversified's new owner he said the company's new location in Moosic will give them room to grow operations but he wouldn't say if there are plans to hire more people.

6 comments

Em

Very downtrodden work force, low pay (less than 9 per hr on average, save for a few bloated positions at top), and chaotic and hostile work err k environment overall. Will a move improve this? Doubtful. Also, many of the employees use public transportation because they cannot afford their own transportation.

Jenna

city slicker

To my knowledge most workers use mass transportation to get to the Scranton location. Soooo they are moving to Montage Mountain hmmmmm Colts Bus Service Discontinued their bus route to Montage Mountain during the day… Unless this company is going to provide a shuttle service to the workers being “transferred” to Montage my wonderment is how are they going to get there???? Does anyone know if the company is offering this shuttle to them so they can keep their jobs…

ME

Myself

You don’t want to work there, trust me. None of the regular employees make anywhere near the $40k claimed; the majority are temps making $8.50/hour. If you take public transportation and the weather’s bad so the buses run on snow routes, have a sick child, etc. none of that is a valid excuse for calling off or being late.